SEQUIM,
Wash. — On May 21, Linda Fleming, 66, became the first recorded case of
physician-assisted suicide in Washington state. Fleming had been dying from
Stage IV pancreatic cancer.

She
died at home in Sequim, Wash., where she lived alone. At her death bed were her
family, her dog, her physician, and members of Compassion & Choices, the
pro-assisted suicide organization.

Divorced
and suffering from arthritis, she filed for bankruptcy in 2007, according to
her lawyer. A former social worker, Fleming lived in subsidized housing with
monthly disability checks amounting to $643.

When
questioned by a New York
Times reporter as to why assisted
suicide was provided to Fleming, Robb Miller, Washington’s Compassion &
Choices executive director, said that her situation raised “none of the red
flags” preventing her participation, adding that Fleming’s two children and former husband “supported her choice.”

On
the same day Fleming died, John Peyton, a former Boeing computer programmer who
suffered from ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), died at his home in Seattle,
with his family surrounding him. Unlike Fleming’s death, Peyton’s departure
from this life would not be noted in local and national media. But the two
deaths represented two poles of a polarizing issue.

Although
physician-assisted suicide was legalized in March, Peyton, 65, would neither
agree to taking a lethal dosage nor allow Lou Gehrig’s disease to keep him from
speaking out against the state’s Death With Dignity Act.

Since
then, there’s been a second death by assisted suicide in Washington, and
according to the state’s Department of Health, nine other people have in their
possession lethal medications from Washington pharmacies.

Eileen
Geller, hospice nurse and founder of True Compassion Advocates, said media
coverage concerning Fleming’s death “sent the wrong message to people with
life-limiting illness and their families — that assisted suicide, rather than
good medical care and improved community support, is the solution to end-stage
illness or disability.”

No Need to Suffer

Fleming
only discovered her terminal cancer in April of this year, surprised by how
quickly the disease spread and the pain increased. She said that her fatal
illness had “arrived at a most inopportune time.” She chose assisted suicide
owing to her dislike of being unable to “focus or concentrate” due to the
effect of increased pain medication.

Dan
Kennedy, CEO of Human Life of Washington, said that if Fleming were suffering,
“there are certainly drugs and methods and means available to alleviate that.
No one who is opposed to assisted suicide is in favor of any kind of suffering,
and there’s no need for it.”

Marie
Hilliard, director of bioethics and public policy for the National Catholic
Bioethics Center, said, “There is ample evidence that the presence of pain
and/or depression (both of which are treatable) in terminally ill patients
is a deciding factor in the desire for physician-assisted suicide.”

Hilliard
noted that “findings from a study by William Breitbart, M.D., in the
Journal of the American Medical Association in 2000, indicate that
‘desire for hastened death among terminallyill cancer patients is
not uncommon. Depression and hopelessnessare the strongest
predictors of desire for hastened death inthis population.’

“According
to a report by the New York Task Force on Life and Law, ‘treating cancer
patients for depression and pain reduces levels of suicidal ideation,’”
she pointed out. “‘Treatment for depression resulted in the cessation of
suicidal ideation for 90% of these patients.’”

Faith and Support

John
Peyton learned of his diagnosis a little over a year before he died. Although
he was disappointed, he felt no “anger or bitterness” or “cheated of anything.”
He explained: “If this is what God demands of me to improve my chances of
living with him in the hereafter, mine is a pretty poor negotiating position.”

Devout
Catholics, he and his wife had been active in the pro-life movement for many
years. With his experience giving presentations, Peyton decided to use his
illness as a platform to make a case against assisted suicide and in favor of
better care for the terminally ill.

Laura
Ingraham interviewed him for Fox News in June 2008 and asked about his “quality
of life.” Peyton replied: “I have a marvelous quality of life.”

Though
bedridden and dependent on others, he said: “I have a family. I have friends. I
have my church community. I have loving support all around me.”

Seattle
Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Tyson recalled a video that Peyton appeared in where he
addressed “the loss of control and the kind of humility it required to let
others tend to the details he would have rather handled himself.”

“For
John, it was a new spiritual journey,” Bishop Tyson said.

Peyton
worried about assisted suicide “victimizing people,” fearing that “people with
disabilities or in tough financial circumstances and without adequate care
would feel pressured to take the lethal drugs.”

“Rather
than giving [the terminally ill] the temptation to kill themselves,” he said,
“we should figure out how to help them have the quality of life that I enjoy.”